Such a Gift
by MirrorMarch
Summary: A rewrite of one of my favorite scenes from The Hobbit, featuring non-Lee Pace Thranduil. Oneshot.


**This is just a little something to get my uncooperative brain working again after a** _ **very**_ **long first semester. This is based off my favorite scene in The Hobbit, right before Gandalf and Bilbo depart from the Elves on the edge of Mirkwood.** **All characters, concepts, and most of the dialogue are the property of J.R.R. Tolkien.**

The Greenwood appeared livelier than it had in many ages when the Elven host reined in at its border, and all eyes looked upon the towering trees with wonderment. Their leaves were green, their bark washed clean of the foul decay of Dol Guldur's spreading corruption, and the sun sparkled on the tip of every branch, turning the forest crown gold as the oaks, beeches, maples, and birches whispered merrily among themselves, freed at last from their dark thralldom.

Thranduil smiled fondly at the trees, gladdened by their purity. Never again, he swore, would they have to suffer the presence of evil about their trunks, nor the ensnaring webs of Ungoliant's spawn within their boughs, not as long as he was lord of the wood. The Elf nodded in satisfaction at the sight of his realm, and then turned his horse about, the animal shifting excitedly as it sensed the happiness of its rider, and faced the two members of his company who were not among his kin.

The wizard and the curious little halfling stood behind him, on foot beside the hobbit's docile pack pony that was laden with sacks and boxes of gold, gems, and jewelry, the one-fourteenth share promised to the small one—Bilbo, the Elvenking remembered with a hidden smile.

Gandalf met Thranduil's gaze, that ever-present light of mischief and merriment shining in his pale blue eyes as he said, "farewell! O Elvenking! Merry be the Greenwood, while the world is yet young! And merry be all your folk!"

Thranduil appreciated the wizard's blessing, and though Gandalf often wove words with double-meanings and traps, the Elf knew that this time he was sincere.

"Farewell! O Gandalf!" he returned, inclining his head to the mighty wizard, "may you ever appear where you are most needed and least expected! The oftener you appear in my halls the better shall I be pleased!"

He began to turn his horse away again to begin the march back to his own dwelling, but he paused as a small voice cried out, "wait!"

Thranduil shifted, looking down on the hobbit who hurried forward to the side of the Elvenking's steed, and then stood—a bit nervously, it seemed to Thranduil—on one of his peculiar, fuzzy feet, while the other he used to scratch anxiously at the back of his opposite leg.

"I beg of you," Bilbo said, stammering, as he dug into his pocket, "to accept this gift!" He pulled out a glittering necklace made of silver and inlaid with small pearls, and held it out to the Elvenking.

Thranduil tilted his head to one side, tangled curls of dark, nut brown hair falling over his shoulder as he asked with one curiously-raised brow, "in what way have I earned such a gift, O hobbit?"

Bilbo stammered a few times, and the Elvenking waited patiently. Though he had known the halfling but a little, Thranduil had grown fond of him in the short time they had marched together back to the Greenwood. He admired his wit and his strangely commanding presence that seemed odd in one so small, and he had been amused by all his tales around their campfires at night. And yet, above all, the king admired mostly his honesty, for though the hobbit, he knew, was wont to tell falsehoods from time to time, he always came forward with the truth when the moment was right. Indeed, Thranduil had guessed already what Bilbo would answer, even before his own question had left his mouth, and so he stayed silent, the barest trace of a smile lifting the corners of his lips while he waited for the hobbit to speak.

"Well, er, I thought, don't you know," Bilbo replied at last, his fingers fidgeting on the necklace, his gaze fixed on his hairy toes, "that, er, some little return should be made for your, er, hospitality."

He looked up to meet Thranduil's amused, pale green eyes with some vehemency as he added, "I mean even a burglar has his feelings! I have drunk much of your wine and eaten much of your bread."

Thranduil's horse shifted beneath him again, but the Elvenking smiled easily, and leaned down to take the necklace gently from the hobbit's hands, rubbing his olive-skinned thumb across one of the smooth pearls set within it briefly before turning his eyes back to Bilbo.

"I will take your gift, O Bilbo the Magnificent!" he said gravely. "And I name you Elf-friend and blessed. May your shadow never grow less—or else stealing would be too easy! Farewell!"

Then Thranduil turned away, and with his back to his whole host, he allowed the smirk he had been hiding to show. Bilbo had obviously not missed the Elvenking's reference to the ring and the weakness of his invisibility, and Thranduil would carry the memory of his open-mouthed expression merrily even to his own halls.


End file.
